New York Times Magazine has a fascinating profile of Mike Zarren, a 32-year-old staffer on the Boston Celtics who works as both associate counsel and resident statistician. In fact, he knows every under-recognized stat the NBA doesn't calculate, such as pick-and-roll efficiency and the ideal shot for players to score after a lay-up (short answer: 3-pointer from the corner).
Although Zarren kept some info off the record from the NYT reporter, he let out a few interesting tidbit (some more obvious than the others). As the writer stated:
He was willing to admit that Ray Allen’s worth goes far beyond his perimeter shooting, that Rajon Rondo’s rebounding was an undervalued asset, that Leon Powe’s surprisingly strong play was not so surprising to the Celtics and that, as transformative a player as Garnett was known to be, he has generated a variety of offensive and defensive pluses that even the Celtics didn’t anticipate.
I think the stats guys behind a basketball team are under-valued and they can do an incredible job for coaches and GMs. If only the Raptors had hired this guy!
See the full article
here.
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